BOW WAVE 244

Bow Wave Issue 244--Cargo Edition

news and views on trade, insurance and risk

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Wavy Line	sam@wavyline.com
(c)2004 WavyLine.com	Issue No 244 26 Jul 04
Published free of charge to Readers
Editor: Sam Ignarski
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In this issue:

1. Welcome
2. TIS--Must Read Cargo Site
3. Essential Cargo Claims
4. The Risks of The Mobile Phone
5. Admiralty Jurisdiction in Australia
6. And Finally...

1. Welcome

Cargoes

QUINQUIREME of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores, With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amethysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.

Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke-stack, Butting through the Channel in the mad March days, With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.

John Masefield

New Readers this week include:

Marine Consultant Alex Sinclair
Filippos Digkas
Sean O'Flaherty of brokers JLT in London
Mike Eno, Chief Investigator of Accidents,Maritime Safety Authority in Wellington, New Zealand
Capt.Lennox Bailey, Director Safety, Environment and Certification of the Maritime Authority of Jamaica
Marine Consultant Robin Goatley
Ship Inspector Capt P J Denny of the UK P&I Club
Robert Campbell of the company Ideas in Glasgow
Dr WJ Baker and Rowland Raikes of Medical Rescue International

News of Readers

Richard Carpenter, known for many years as a stalwart of the Korean marine market has recently sold up on the UK mainland and moved into his bungalow in St Helens on the Isle of Wight. It is not big enough for permanent living, but he enjoys being 10 minutes walk from his boat, which is in Bembridge harbour.

contact him at:-

carpenterrf@hotmail.com

Readers Write

Quite of lot of this week's issue is given over to the the subjects of cargo and cargo claims

Enjoy.

2. TIS--Must Read Cargo Site

We wonder how many people know of this remarkable cargo site, called The Transport Information Service (TIS), which is published in German and English by the German Insurance Association and provides users with specialist information from German marine underwriters on various aspects of the transport sector. It is a kind of education in depth about the cargo field in general and in particular. It is obvious that many years of experience are invested into this site and the Association deserves to be congratulated for making it available to the world.

TIS covers the following subject areas:

Cargo Information for a total of 187 products
Technical information about containers
Technical information about fit-for-purpose packaging Articles dealing with load securing
Photo of the Month
DTV Cargo insurance conditions and risks factors in cargo insurance

http://www.tis-gdv.de/tis_e/inhalt.html

3. Essential Cargo Claims

No site we know captures the workaday world of the cargo claim better than the CargoLaw site, run by a firm of LA cargo attornies, Countryman and McDaniel, and filled like a scrapbook with cases, pictures, news and guidance on the events of the day. Celebrated casualties are liable to appear in the gallery sections and certainly some of the largest container ships ever to suffer major casualties are liable have appeared here first in colour and in extenso, announcing the new internet era of publicity for major cargo claims. If you do not know the site already, you should add it to your browser today:

http://www.cargolaw.com/claims.html

4. The Risks of The Mobile Phone

Among the cargo insurance fraternity, it is agreed that the single most loss prone item in the world is the mobile phone, whose portability and saleability not only encourage thieves at the individual level but also when the phones are boxed and shipped and held in ports and warehouses.

One of the interesting databases kept on the modern phenomenon of the mobile phone is the incidents log published by HINT the international journal of hazardous chemical incidents.

Read it at:-

http://www.saunalahti.fi/ility/MobileExplosions.htm

5. Admiralty Jurisdiction in Australia

Sydney Solicitor Frazer Hunt has drawn our attention to the fact that the website of the Federal Court of Australia website has been updated with new pages for practitioners interested in the Admiralty jurisdiction of the Court.

The relevant pages are at:

http://www.fedcourt.gov.au/how/admiralty.html

6. And Finally...

Capt John Sweetman in Thailand sent in a virtual parcel of jokes, mainly reproduced in his local hash magazine. This one from the field of aviation is hard to forget:-

"I can't provide any proof of this story, but the writer swears it's true. He used to work for the British Ministry of Defence, and had a meeting or two with the Civil Aircraft Authority (CAA), as his job involved building systems to decrease pilot workload in military/commercial aircraft.

Anyway, in one of these meetings, they were discussing crash investigations, and the problems with early Ground Warning Alarm systems, which went off if the plane was within a certain distance of the ground, even if they were supposed to because they were landing.

Many pilots were known to switch this unit off as part of their pre-flight checks, they found it so irritating.

They went on to tell us of a crash in South America, where a Boeing (737 I think) that was coming to land one night, hit the ground short of the runway, killing all passengers and crew. After examination of the Black Box, the crash was put down to Pilot Error, and nothing more was said to the press about it.

However, the decision to blame it on Pilot error had been an easy one. As the plane had been dropping in altitude, the Ground Warning Alarm had gone off.

On the voice tape from the cockpit you could clearly hear the posh English warning that the plane was too dose to the ground. Then you hear the pilot saying, "Shut up, Gringo."

Then you hear the crash!"

PS:-

Where might the huge dimensions of the new QM2 Liner be mistaken for those of an ordinary Ferry? Why in Scotland of course:-

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=808792004

PPS from Mr Alan Salsbury of the West of England Club who made up this:-

Receptionist's lament

Good morning
Bean Gawn and Dunnit!
solicitors and commissioners too
I'm afraid there's nobody here right now
So I cannot put you through.

Mr Bean has been and gorn
And Mr Gawn has gorn and been
But I don't know where Mr Dunnit is
He's very seldom seen

Good Morning Bean Gawn & Dunnit
I am afraid Mr Gawn has gone for good.
The Society were asking questions
He wouldn't answer if he could.

Good morning Bean Gawn & Dunnit
I'm afraid Mr Dunnit is no longer here
He's run off with Mrs Lopen
And the safe is completely clear

Good morning Bean Gawn & Dunnit
I'm afraid there's no one free
Wait though, I can put you through to Miss Demina She types and does the tea

But if you have a problem
And you really need to speak
Try Motley, Crew & Allsorts
I'm working there next week.

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